Man defending his transgender girlfriend slashed by 350-pound man at Greenwich Village McDonald’s

By ROCCO PARASCANDOLA and PEARL GABEL and STEPHEN REX BROWN

|NEW YORK DAILY NEWS|

Sep 22, 2012 | 12:43 AM

The NYPD is asking the public's assistance in identifying the suspect wanted for assault as a hate crime in this surveillance still.

A 350-pound brute hurled slurs at a gay man and his transgender girlfriend and then whipped out a razor and slashed one of them at a crime-plagued McDonald's in Greenwich Village, police said.

Jamar McLeod, 24, said he and his girlfriend, Jalisa "JoJo" Griffen had just picked up her hormone medicine Wednesday night and were headed back to their apartment in Bushwick when they ducked into the fast food joint on W. Third St. to use the bathroom.

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McLeod, who is 5-foot-6 and 170 pounds, was holding hands with Griffen, who was wearing a tight-fitting pair of sweatpants and sweatshirt. The suspect, who was waiting for his cheeseburger around 7 p.m., apparently overheard them talking about gay bashing.

Jamar McLeod, 24, was slashed in the face by 350-poundman outside a Greenwich Village McDonald's on Wednesday, September 19, 2012. (Pearl Gabel for NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)

"The conversation we were having was already about trouble in the gay community — how many of our friends got jumped just for being gay," McLeod said.

Their attacker likely wouldn't have realized Griffen was transgender if they had been discussing a different topic, McLeod said.

Jalisa Griffen, 22, of Bushwick, was defended by her boyfriend Jamar in a hate-crime attack in McDonalds in the West Village on Wednesday.

The backpack-wearing bully clad in a plaid shirt began to relentlessly taunt Griffen.

"Leave it alone man, everyone has got their own thing," he recalled saying.

But the suspect wouldn't back off, and as Griffen went into the women's bathroom he told her she should use the men's room.

"You're using the wrong bathroom!" the suspect hollered, according to a police source.

McLeod said the big-bellied ogre then threatened to beat up his girlfriend. "No, you're going to fight me, you're not going to lay your hands on her," he countered.

The suspect said he would take him up on his offer, but was going to get his cheeseburger first.

Greenwich Village McDonald’s on 136 W. 3rd St. (Google)

McLeod and Griffen took that as an opportunity to leave, but the suspect followed them, ignoring his meal.

In front of the McDonald's the suspect took a swing at McLeod, who, using his boxing skills, was able to dodge it.

McLeod pummeled the hatemonger and kneed him in the groin, making him fall to the ground. When the bully got back up, he had a razor.

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The first slash cut McLeod in the elbow as he tried to block the blade. The second got him in the neck — the third across the face.

"When I felt the blood I backed off. I started cursing, saying, 'You're bigger than me! You should feel embarrassed! You didn't need to cut me in a regular fight!'" McLeod said.

Griffen convinced McLeod to wait for the ambulance that would take him to Bellevue Hospital, and to talk to the police. Griffen also persuaded her boyfriend to speak out about the bloody crime — in the hopes of catching the cretin and spreading the word against prejudice.

"If this is my way of life I should be able to voice my opinion about it," McLeod said. "I love her. And it is the right thing to do."

Last year he completed a four-year sentence in prison for armed robbery. After his release, he came out to some of his relatives. Though his mother's family is accepting of his homosexuality, he said his father knows nothing about it.

"He's Jamaican. When the news gets out he will know — that's kind of scary," McLeod said.

The wild brawl, which is being investigated as a hate crime, is only the latest incident at the troubled McDonald's.

In March, a YouTube video captured a five-man donnybrook outside the same location. In October, a McDonald's employee used a pipe to beat two women who ran around the cashier's counter and attacked him. The worker was arrested but later cleared by a grand jury. The women pleaded guilty last week.

In March 2011, 26-year-old Damian Furtch was attacked and badly beaten at the fast-food joint by a man who didn't like that he was wearing pink shoelaces.

Managers have increased security at the restaurant, but that generally begins around 10 p.m.